Ep.762: Is the Gospel Your Ticket to Wealth?

The role that money and wealth play in the Gospel

Theme Scripture: John 10:10

This past week, the Powerball jackpot was up around $500 million! To many it represents a dream of a care-free life full of travel, leisure and luxury. For some Christians, the mere fact of their Christianity represents the same, as the Prosperity Gospel preaches that God does absolutely want you to live the good life – to live with ease and comfort – after all, God WANTS to bless you! So, is the Gospel really our ticket to wealth? Does sowing the seeds of tithes and offerings reap a harvest of financial freedom? Stay with us!

Comment(4)

I really, really enjoyed listening to your program this morning. I missed the first half but the second half was very entertaining and informative. I can’t wait to hear the complete audio of the program.

I have a question relating to this subject. Our church stresses the importance of tithing and although the pastor says that he’s not saying that people “will go to hell unless they tithe,” he does place lots and lots of emphasis on the act of tithing. (He does mention “giving of time as well as money to the church)

He also talks about the importance of giving the “first fruits” and sewing “the seed”, stating that “one must sew a seed in order to harvest the fruit”. My question is this, what is the first fruit? Is it strictly money or can it include “acts of kindness, helpfulness, etc. and, if so, what among those acts constitutes “first fruits”? Thanks for your time.

PS- If possible, could you please list all the scripture that you quoted during your program so that I can study it while awaiting your audio version.

Thank you very much for writing, Bill. All of the phraseology you mentioned as being taught in your church is Old Testament-based. Wen we mix pictures, we begin to get in trouble.

“Seed” in the New Testament is limited in meaning to essentially three things:
• offspring – seed of Abraham
• the Gospel – parable of the sower
• faith – the mustard seed

“Firstfruits” in the New Testament is limited to stages of the resurrection – Jesus, the true church, and the spirit and never refers to any actions or “harvest” that followers of Jesus can take or have.

With this context, we look at our lives and simply conclude this: We are to give our best efforts to following Jesus, while being responsible for our lives. The Law of Christ is the law of liberty and we are to serve him according to our best judgment.

P.S. The Rewind transcript with all of the Scriptures cited and much of the dialogue is ready and posted! Subscribers to the Rewinds receive an email each week letting you know when the Full Edition is available for viewing.

Please listen to the podcast. There is no tithing requirement to the Christian in the New Testament. The Old Testament tithe was never money and even the priests were required to tithe. – Christian Questions